In the United States, a “911” emergency system is a system for safety of its citizens. The system is designed to use telephones, either land lines or cellular, to report incidents that are emergency-type situations.
However, the US 911 system is limited to telephone calls only. A person in distress can telephone a 911-operator and report an emergency situation, such as an accident, illness, assault, etc. The person cannot provide photographs or video data or text data; only audio data can be communicated. In addition, this information can only be provided to the 911 operator, not to emergency services providers or others who could assist the person in distress. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method in which a mobile device can be used to report and monitor incidents, the reporting to include video, photographic, text and other data in addition to audio data. There is also a need for a system and method that allows a person in distress to communicate with emergency service providers such as first responders in addition to communicating with the 911 operator. There is a further need for a system that enables a social protection network with user safety groups and/or Samaritans who receive alerts from users in distress.